Babylon 5

Babylon 5 is one of the TV shows we all wish we had come across sooner. as a massive star trek fan i saw the first few episodes of b5 in its initial run and immediately thought it was below par. at the urging of a friend i came back to it a few years later.... wow! to say i was impressed was an understatement, i immediately began to re-watch the whole series and saw he genius of the story arc and character development. in addition to this the use of aliens that looks alien, use different gasses to breath, are more advanced technologically and (shock) actually speak a language other than English was a joy! the battle scenes were wonderful, well beyond anything i had seen before and as for londo and g'kar, if there are 2 finer characters in all of television then that TV show is doing well. funny, awe inspiring, intelligent and emotional b5 has it all, the only drawback being that sometimes the walls are a little flimsy, sometimes the effects are a little below par, but willing suspension of disbelief is necessary in sci-fi, and b5 is no exception. is b5 a work of genius? definitely, without question yes, but could parts of it be better? those niggly little things that gnaw at us i'm afraid would have brought b5 up a notch, but it remains , without question, one of the finest shows, not just sci-fi, but shows that i have ever seen!

Bored by today's generic, soul- and lifeless mass productions I check out some of those gems of long gone times. Babylon 5 beats every show today marketed under the label of sci-fi easy: likable and interesting characters, suspenseful storylines and good old action and fine fx work make Babylon 5 a lighthouse shining amidst the ocean of mediocrity and worse. Top and gets better with every decade of the decline of the entertainment industry.

If I could meet Straczynsi in person and had the chance to tell him anything I wanted - it would be this: Thank You. Thank you for creating what is arguably the best sci fi series ever to hit the small screen. Thank you for creating a story so rich, so deep, so detailed that its like will not likely be seen again for a very long time, if ever.

I just finished watching all 5 seasons of the series, plus the 5 movies (the sixth - Legend of the Rangers is die for release in March 2006), AND the entire run of Crusade - the sequel/spin off series.

This is about the fourth or fifth time I've done this now. Like the person ahead of me said - you'll be saying things like "So THAT'S what that meant..." quite a lot. This show is amazing...incredible....just watch it. you'll see what I mean.

Even though the final season was rather slow, and glossed over a lot of plot lines that probably would have been more interesting, it was still better than most science fiction, and any on television other than the earlier seasons. Other than the final season and scattered weak episodes, the series is the best television science fiction, and near the best dramatic television, and competes with the best movie science fiction.

The action in the series is mostly about the Shadow war, but the real key is the intrigue between the characters, and the personal growth of the characters. Londo is one of the best dramatic characters in any series. He starts as an ambitious schemer who drinks too much, but develops a conscience as he learns the consequences of his ambitions, and finally ends up as a tragic character who reached even beyond his early ambitions, but at a cost that he regrets deeply.

Maybe some day there will be a better science fiction series. But for now this is the level of story-telling television science fiction should try to reach.

The early to mid-90's was very average in my opinion for science fiction shows. Babylon 5 was a breath of fresh air.

Unlike some sci-fi shows, Babylon 5 was an ongoing epic. What happened in one episode impacted on another episode and so on. It was set on Babylon 5 (a space station)where five solar systems who have been at war try to make peace. The representatives of these races are all based on Babylon 5 trying to create lasting peace (not unlike the real life League of Nations/United Nations).

As I said, what happened in one episode impacted on another. There was no jetting off to planets, creating a mess and then jetting off again. There was action, political intrigue and plenty of excitement which made this show stand out in 1994.

J. Michael Straczynski did a great job with Babylon 5. It's actually a very good allegory of life on Earth in the 20th century. There have been two major wars this century. The League of Nations was set up following World War 1 but they soon became defunct and the United Nations were set up following World War 2 to try and bring peace to the world. Of course it's hard to find peace with so many different governments pulling in different directions. That is why I liked Babylon 5. It was realistic; there were no quick solutions for peace and there were setbacks along the way just like we have in real life.

I strongly urge anyone who hasn't seen Babylon 5 to check it out.